(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a golf ball feeder for use in a golf practice court and, more particularly, to a golf ball feeder which can feed golf balls onto a tee or a mat only with one-touch movement of a golf player without using any electrical energy, and enables the golf player to selectively practice a tee-shot or a second shot.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Generally, in the usual golf practice court, a golf ball feeder is provided at each mat to continuously feed golf balls thereto. This allows a golf player to selectively practice a tee-shot or a second shot.
The golf ball feeder is usually driven by using a separate motor as its power source. In addition, this motor-based golf ball feeder should be inevitably installed with relevant facilities incidental to the separate motor. These facilities may include an elastic member and a rotating arm for picking up the golf ball.
However, in the above structure, electrical energy should be consumed for operating the motor and noise can occur. Furthermore, the incidental facilities cause complicated structure or device failure. For example, the elastic member is liable to lose its tensional strength, resulting in abnormal operation of the device and making the need of repairing. The rotating arm may be broken in a collision against the golf club and the abrasive resistance working at its rotating portion may lead to extravagance in energy.
On the other hand, the golf ball feeder is usually provided with a hopper for storing golf balls therein and relaying them to a golf ball feeding mechanism. The size of the hopper is practically limited so that the golf balls contained therein are liable to be stuck by their own weights or tares. This prevents the golf ball from being smoothly fed to the suitable place.
In this case, the golf player should hit a main body of the golf ball feeder by the golf club to release the stuck state of the golf balls. With repeated hitting operations, the main body of the golf ball feeder is deteriorated in its durability, resulting in the device trouble.